New Testament Plan

¹On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

²Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.

³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow.

⁴As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep.

⁶But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it.

⁸Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown.

⁹Let anyone who has ears listen.”

¹⁰Then the disciples came up and asked him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?”

¹¹He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them.

¹²For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

¹³That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand.

¹⁴Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive.

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back — and I would heal them.

¹⁶“Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

¹⁷For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.

¹⁸“So listen to the parable of the sower:

¹⁹When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.

²⁰And the one sown on rocky ground — this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

²¹But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

²²Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²³But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”

²⁴He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.

²⁶When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

²⁸“‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up? ’ the servants asked him.

²⁹“‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’”

³¹He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

³²It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

³³He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

³⁴Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and he did not tell them anything without a parable,

³⁵so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: I will open my mouth in parables; I will declare things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷He replied: “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;

³⁸the field is the world; and the good seed — these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one,

³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness.

⁴²They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Let anyone who has ears listen.

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

⁴⁶When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish,

⁴⁸and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones.

⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous,

⁵⁰and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes.”

⁵²“Therefore,” he said to them, “every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he left there.

⁵⁴He went to his hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

⁵⁵Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all these things?”

⁵⁷And they were offended by him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.”

⁵⁸And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus.

²“This is John the Baptist,” he told his servants. “He has been raised from the dead, and that’s why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³For Herod had arrested John, chained him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,

⁴since John had been telling him, “It’s not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵Though Herod wanted to kill John, he feared the crowd since they regarded John as a prophet.

⁶When Herod’s birthday celebration came, Herodias’s daughter danced before them and pleased Herod.

⁷So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

⁸Prompted by her mother, she answered, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”

⁹Although the king regretted it, he commanded that it be granted because of his oaths and his guests.

¹⁰So he sent orders and had John beheaded in the prison.

¹¹His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.

¹²Then his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus.

¹³When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns.

¹⁴When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

¹⁵When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶“They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷“But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him.

¹⁸“Bring them here to me,” he said.

¹⁹Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces.

²¹Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

²³After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.

²⁴Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.

²⁵Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning.

²⁶When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear.

²⁷Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.

³⁰But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴When they had crossed over, they came to shore at Gennesaret.

³⁵When the men of that place recognized him, they alerted the whole vicinity and brought to him all who were sick.

³⁶They begged him that they might only touch the end of his robe, and as many as touched it were healed.

¹Then Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked,

²“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”

³He answered them, “Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition?

⁴For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,”

⁶he does not have to honor his father.’ In this way, you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition.

⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:

⁸ This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

⁹ They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.”

¹⁰Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand:

¹¹It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth — this defiles a person.”

¹²Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”

¹³He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.

¹⁴Leave them alone! They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁶“Do you still lack understanding?” he asked.

¹⁷“Don’t you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?

¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.

¹⁹For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.

²⁰These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”

²¹When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.

²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”

²³Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”

²⁴He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.

²⁹Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there,

³⁰and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them.

³¹So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

³²Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

³³The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd?”

³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them. “Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,

³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

³⁷They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces — seven large baskets full.

³⁸Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.

³⁹After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.